Menachem Ussishkin

Menachem Ussishkin ( Avraham Menachem Mendel Ussishkin, ; August 14, 1863 – October 2, 1941) was a Russian-born Zionist leader and head of the Jewish National Fund.

Biography Menachem Ussishkin was born in Dubrowna in the Belarusian part of the Russian Empire. He received a traditional Jewish education, but when his family moved to Moscow, he learned in secular school. In 1889, he graduated as a technical engineer from Moscow State Technical University, today known as Bauman Moscow State Technical University. Ussishkin was among the founders of the BILU movement and the Moscow branch of the Hovevei Zion. He also joined the Bnei Moshe society founded by Ahad HaAm. In 1891, he made his first trip to Palestine.

Ussishkin served as Secretary of the First Zionist Congress. In 1903, Ussishkin visited Palestine and was not present at the Sixth Zionist Congress where the Uganda plan was presented. Soon after, he became one of the main leaders who strongly opposed this plan, until it was abandoned in the Seventh Zionist Congress in 1905.

He was one of the Jewish delegates to the Paris peace conference after World War I.

Family

Ussishkin had two children: His daughter, Rachel, married Friedrich Simon Bodenheimer, entomologist and son of Zionist Max Bodenheimer. His son, Samuel, a lawyer, married Elsa Schoenberg. Their son is archaeologist David Ussishkin.

Death and burial

Ussishkin died in 1941 in Jerusalem at the age of 78. He is buried in Nicanor's Cave at the botanical gardens of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Mount Scopus.

The "Ussishkin Fortresses" This section may be expanded using the corresponding article in Hebrew (March 2024)

A group of villages in northern Israel, including Dan, Dafna, She'ar Yashuv and Beit Hillel, were collectively named the "Ussishkin Fortresses".

Commemoration Ussishkin's name is commemorated in many places in Israel. Kibbutz Kfar Menahem is named after him.

On his 70th birthday, the Rehavia neighborhood council decided to change the name of the street in which he lived, Rechov Keren Kayemet Le'Israel (Jewish National Fund) to Rechov Ussishkin, and move Rechov Keren Kayamet Le'Israel to its present location.

Following Ussishkin's death, many streets and schools in Israel were named after him, as is the largest auditorium at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem.

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